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Exotic coconut pandan rice recipe
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Okay, so it’s weird food Wednesday again, and today’s weird food is pandan.
Never heard of it? Not surprising, unless you’re Asian, where the leaves of the pandanus amaryllifolius or screwpine are widely used in Southeast Asian cooking. The plant is often grown specifically for use as a flavoring in rice and desserts. The nutty fragrance and pale green color of its leaves add an exotic touch to dishes from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and Burma.
The leaves can be steeped in coconut milk, which is then added to the dish, or they can be tied in a bunch and cooked with the food or woven into a basket to hold rice as it cooks. Pandan or pandon extract is available in Asian markets such as Lek's Asian Market, 112 Del Mar Circle, Aurora, or here on the Internet.
The leaves of a related plant, pandanus tectorius, grow in Hawaii and can also be used to make woven place mats or even in leis. So when my mother threatened , “Eat it or wear it!” when I rejected my food, she might have been talking about the pandan leaf.
Here’s a recipe for rice that uses this flavor to great effect. Coconut pandan rice is great with curries or other Asian dishes.
Coconut pandan rice
½ small onion, finely chopped
1 tsp cooking oil
1 cup jasmine or other rice
1 ½ cups water
½ cup thick coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste
1 or 2 drops pandan extract
Sauté the onion in the oil in a small pan until translucent. Add rice, water and coconut milk and bring to boil. Cover and cook until rice is done. Fluff rice, add salt and pepper to taste and flavor with pandan extract.
FRIDAY is garlic recipe day. Don't forget to stop back for an exotic garlic recipe!
